Our Lamaze Friends

Thirty three years ago my wife and I enrolled in a Lamaze class in anticipation of our first child. During that class we happened to befriend two other couples who were also having their first child.

The friendship started with going out for ice cream after the classes, and soon after we were having pizza together on Friday nights.

Once the kids were born, there were lots of play dates, and the Friday night get togethers continued.

It was wonderful being friends with people who were at the same life stage as we were, and going through similar experiences.

Over the next few years we all had our second child, and a couple of us had a third, with my wife and one of the other husbands serving as godparents for the third child of the other couple.

During those years, there were lots of baptisms, birthday parties, school plays, Halloweens, and Christmases that we shared with each other. There were even a few vacations together at the Jersey shore as well as in Vermont.

A few years later, we had all moved to new locations, but we still got together at least twice a year; once in the summer to celebrate all the kids’ birthdays, and again during the Christmas holidays (pictured above).

While there has been a lifetime of happy memories we have shared with our “Lamaze friends”, it has been nice knowing that we have also all been there to support each other through some of the difficult times that are part of life.

We have gone through the pain of divorce with one of the couples, but are thrilled that the wife has found a great guy to share her life with.

We have attended multiple graduations and celebrated the weddings of some of the “kids”, one of whom now has children of her own, with another one expecting her first child in a few months (the circle of life in action again).

Since the kids are now scattered all over the country (Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, Hawaii, and Pennsylvania), we no longer have a get together to celebrate their birthdays.

However, that has not stopped us from still getting together at least a couple of times per year, usually in the summer and at the Christmas holidays.

Tonight was our annual Christmas get together, and as always it was a night filled with laughter, reminiscing, talking about our kids, and our plans for the future.

It has been a remarkable friendship, and I am grateful for the times we have spent together, and look forward to many more.

Who knew that doing a few cleansing breaths together would lead to having best friends for the next 33 years.